


Seven Ways to Fall in Love;

by halsee



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 14:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10618821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halsee/pseuds/halsee





	

PART ONE:

 

Archie Andrews at five years old is a blur of red hair and enough energy to exhaust and excite anyone who bothered to glance at him. Perhaps, this was why Jughead Jones who wore a paper hat in the shape of a crown on his head always glanced at the blur who had become his best friend. The red blur was what ran into him in the shadow of the doorway and pushed him to the ground, after he had been pulled up by the red blur it was history. With the lights hitting Archie’s fire red hair it created a reaction in Jughead that he hadn't expected. In pure awe he fixed his paper crown and planted his feet before introducing himself.

“Jughead Jones the third” he stated as he pushed his hand out to the boy who seemed to be more interested in his crown than his hand.

“Archie Andrews- can I color your crown?” Archie asked as he pointed at the crown resting on his head and holding up a small black crayon he smiled and nodded. That was the day, Jughead Jones the Third told his mom in excitement - yes he did make a friend. Since that day, Jughead made an effort to wear blank crowns simply that Archie could sit still and color each crown in until it was deemed perfection by Archie and himself.

 

PART TWO:

 

This time they are older- second grade. Jughead still wears black crowns and follows Archie Andrews. But now there is someone else who follows the bright boy. Her name is Betty Cooper and she's blonde and pretty. But Jughead is uncomfortable with sharing his best friend with this girl. He had been there first for Archie and they colored in crowns together - what did this Betty Cooper do with Archie? He made what his mom called his thinking face, where he could feel his lips move to one side and his eyebrows furrow in.

“I have a present for you” Archie says one day catching Jughead off guard as he sat in a booth in Pops as he waited for his mom. Archie had gone away for Christmas and couldn't play with Jughead at all during that time. Jughead stares at the blue present that's wrapped oddly shaped and lumpy. He glances at Archie before making his mission to discover what the lump is.

“A crown.” Jughead says softly and quietly it's not a real crown but it's a hat shaped like a crown that's not made of paper! Jughead feels warm inside and stares at Archie with a toothless grin. Archie grins back his own teeth missing as well, he holds the hat close to him as if he's afraid it will blow away like his other crown hats have in the past. It's at this moment that the bell rings and both he and Archie glance up to see Betty Cooper skipping into Pops. Jughead slouches down as Archie seems to brighten up and sit taller.

“Archie!” The voice screeches as the fast sound of feet are heard coming their way. Jughead watches as the little blonde wraps her arms around Archie in a hug and waves at him over the table.

“Did you like it?” Archie asks moving closer to Jughead so Betty can sit as her parents order while Polly sits in a different booth with friends her age but still watching her younger sister with a smile. Jughead watches them all and just sighs going back to his notebook before Archie came in.

“MH- cherry is my favorite!” Betty says smiling as she motions to a now empty ring-pop ring. Archie smiles and Jughead can't help but smile even wider that he got a gift that will last forever while Betty Cooper got a ring pop and couldn't even wait a day to eat it! He glanced at Archie and promised himself, that he would wear his crown hat every day.

PART THREE:

 

Jughead Jones loved looking at Archie Andrews, the way the sun hit his hair and caused a halo effect would always make him smile, but lately he hasn’t seen the angelic glow. Their lost weekend in which Archie bailed for unknown reasons left an uncomfortable feeling in his chest. It was no secret that, over the years Archie had grown over the summer, no longer looking like the young child but a teenager on his way to adulthood. It was also no secret that the close friendship of two kids came to a screeching halt - with no reason that Jughead could conjure up. Jughead after a month of chasing after Archie decided to give up for once, he would still wear his crown beanie - a reminder of and to Archie. As long as he wore his beanie, he knew that Archie would come back to being his friend, his confidant. He packed up his laptop, quickly leaving Pop’s but not without one last glance at a smiling Archie Andrews.

 

PART FOUR:

 

Archie Andrews is a horrible person, appears on his screen while he stares at the blinking cursor. Jughead Jones, is in the office at the drive-in and he realizes why Archie hasn’t come for him yet. He’s joined the dark side, with a scoff he slams his laptop shut before pulling off his beanie and throwing it on his makeshift bed. Archie doesn’t even realize Jughead has moved out since they last spoke, doesn’t even know that his mom and Jellybean are gone. He grabs his backpack and stuffs his laptop away, ready to suffer through another day at Riverdale High, without his beanie for the first time in years. He’s halfway to the door before sighing and reaching for the beanie and shoving it on his head before slamming the door shut. He designates himself for the evening at Pop’s, laptop out, burgers eaten. He’s about to leave until the bell rings and in walks, Archie Andrews’ suit and bowtie undone. Archie is searching, clearly that much Jughead can tell and it’s not long till their eyes meet and he can feel his own eyebrow lift up. Archie seems to take it as an invitation, and makes his way over sliding not next to Jughead but in front for the first time in what feels like years.

 

“I think I lost my best friend tonight.” Archie states not meeting his gaze. He stares out the window of Pop’s before sighing softly.

 

“Assuming you are talking about Betty- talk to her. It will go a long way.” He pauses before meeting Archie's eyes, “would have gone a long way with me.” He finishes with a shrug before leaning back and staring back at Archie who seems content to just stare at him before he leaves almost as if he wasn't even in Jughead’s presence.

 

PART FIVE:

 

He sees them in the music room and his heart drops, Archie Andrews, easily recognized through the window and Grundy? Together? He feels his eyes widen and his throat clench before quickly looking away and vowing to confront Archie himself. He made his way to the drive in, and in deep thought made his way into the office launching his bag onto the makeshift bed and sitting in the chair, he normally used, when he worked. He didn’t even realize how dark it had gotten before he shot out of his chair and headed to the Andrews house. He gets to the house and stands ready to knock before catching his breath and turning back around. Sitting down, he holds his hands and gently rocks for a moment. Archie Andrews, not the perfect boy but the Archie that colored crowns and was always sociable got caught up in this cougar’s arms, how? Jughead leaned back as he heard someone approaching, it’s the object of his thoughts. He stares at Archie who looks surprised to see him, as he should be Jughead has always waited for Archie to come to him never the other way around.

“Jug,” Archie questions surprised, “What’s up?” he watches as Archie’s eyebrows twitch before he can’t take it any longer. Slowly advancing towards Archie, he clenches his jaw in frustration.

“What s up? Is that I saw you, Archie with Grundy.” He states standing closer to Archie than he has in the past couple of months. He stares at Archie’s face and can’t help but wonder what happened, what changed? He looked away and couldn’t help but feel disappointed, more disappointed than he’s felt with Archie before.

“Keep your voice down, my dad is inside!” Archie claims as Jughead stares at him in shock. Archie, who looks beyond annoyed at Jughead while he scoffs.

“I’m trying to be your friend even though we aren’t anymore. But I am trying to be a good friend.” He says staring at Archie in disbelief. He could feel whatever chance of reconnecting with Archie was perhaps slipping away and out of his grasp.

“Ah - How long?” He questions, not looking at Archie - not wanting to look at him. But he feels like he has to know, he has to see it for himself. Glancing up at Archie, he watches as Archie seems to freeze and his heart god- his heart feels like it's stopped. No - god, how did this happen? When did it even happen?

“Since the summer, I - I like her.”  He feels almost lost when he hears it. Archie isn’t looking at him and he can’t bring himself to look at Archie. He can’t help himself but scoff in disbelief.

“She is messing with you man, she is messing with your head.” He states almost seething at the thoughts of Grundy and Archie.

“What do you know about it, or me?” Archie mentions cutting Jughead off before he can even process. He stares at the ground before glancing up at Archie and can’t help but furrow his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Nothing, I just - I used to know this guy once, Archie Andrews. He wasn’t perfect but he always tried to do the right thing at least.” He mentions shaking his head at Archie before making his way past, not even bothering to pay attention still trying to grasp that Archie blew off the lost weekend to spend time with Grundy. He could have understood Betty but Grundy?

 

PART SIX:

Jughead leaned against the wall of the student lounge and watched as students piled in. He watched as Betty conversed with Kevin and Veronica Lodge. He wasn't surprised that Betty took Veronica in as a friend, Betty had always been that way with new people. He watched as Archie entered the room and he couldn't help but be drawn towards him. He glanced back over as the rest of the football Neanderthals made their way into the lounge. It wasn't long till he heard Reggie Mantle mention Jason Blossom, and automatically tuned in as he had started to pay more attention for his novel.

 

“If a kid at Riverdale killed Jason, it's not going to be a jock, right? Now let's be honest. Isn't it always some spooky, scrawny, pathetic Internet troll, too busy writing his manifestos to get laid? Some smug, moody, serial killer fanboy freak, like Jughead?” Reggie states laughing as everyone seems to stare at him while Reggie slowly starts to move closer to where he stands.

 

“What was it like, Suicide Squad? When you shot Jason? You didn't do stuff to the body, did you? Like After?” He can’t help but roll his eyes at Reggie’s vocabulary and the nickname really? Suicide Squad? He sighed but spoke up before Reggie could continue.

 

“It's called necrophilia, Reggie, can you spell it?” He smirks when he hears Betty and maybe even Archie laugh just a bit. He could feel himself tense as Reggie advanced but before anything happened.

 

“What do you care, Andrews?” He stared at Archie who was just fighting with him and now protecting him. He felt his breath catch as Archie stood in front of him. He watched his face, careful to not give away the true happiness that he still had Archie in some way. Even though they weren't in the best of places. It happened so fast and before he knew it Archie was slammed into the vending machine greeting a punch to the face that would surely cause a black eye. Archie and Reggie immediately got sent to the principal’s office leaving everyone wondering, leaving Jughead to his own thoughts.

It's not long before Jughead Jones is standing at a football game, and the only reason is to see Archie play. He watched as Archie approaches Grundy which leaves a sour taste in his mouth as he looks away.

 

“Jug, I am sorry for everything I said.” He looks up to see Archie standing to his side the light hitting him just right giving Jughead a flashback of the five year old friend he had. He can't help but my snort with a small smile before nodding.

 

“We are not hugging in front of this whole town,” he mentions with a smile as he stares at Archie. Archie who seems to be relieved and almost out of breath even though the game hasn't started. Jughead shakes his head still smiling.

 

“Friends?” His smile still there as he glanced at Archie before looking over the crowd. And with a pause,

 

“To be discussed, over many burgers, and many days.” He finishes as Archie blinds him with a smile before quickly turning off and running out to the field leaving Jughead in silence.

 

PART SEVEN:

Sitting in Pop’s diner are four kids, a girl with black hair who had her arms around a blonde girl. And a boy with red hair who seemed content to watch a boy who had a crown beanie and a Riverdale high letterman jacket, draped around him. If you were close enough to the table, you would have seen the redhead's fingers grab hold of the other boys and watch as soft smiles suddenly appeared on both of their faces.

 


End file.
